Thinking About Talents

I’ve been thinking today about talents. Why were we given talents? What purpose do they serve? I spent a good portion of my afternoon and evening using my talents to help my niece promote her talents. I myself am in the process of building a website that will feature a few of my talents, with the help of another niece and her talents. We’ve all been gifted with something, whether it’s artistry or personality or a great smile, we all have some gifts and talents. What I realized today is that our talents are necessary not just to improve our lives but for the benefit of others. I now theorize that utilizing our talents for others is the point of our gifts and life itself. “Everyone has a purpose in life and a unique talent to give to others,” stated Kallam Anji Reddy, who then went on to concur with my theory, “And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals.” The ultimate goal of goals, the purpose, the point of it all, the reason for our being… ​

Every believer has received grace gifts, so use them to serve one another as faithful stewards of the many-colored tapestry of God’s grace. 
1 Peter 4:10 (TPT) 

For a very long time I locked myself away, everything about me kept far from the rest of the world. I was, in many respects, an island, disproving John Donne. Everything about me, all the things that make me special and all the things that make me normal and all the things that just make me, served no purpose whatsoever. I regret that. Looking back at all those years of solitude, pain and loneliness, I recognize how much of my life I let go by and how many opportunities were ignored. I have talents that I was born with, I have gifts that were written into my DNA, I have a calling on my life that Jesus has placed on my soul, and somehow I missed all of that. Well no more, I want to serve God and His people. I want to figure out what my gifts and talents are, beyond the ones in aware of, and figure out how God wants me to use them. 

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago. 
Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) ​

What talents do you have? What gifts have been bestowed upon you? How do you use those for the betterment of others? How do you use them for the betterment of yourself? Are you using them at all? Have you thought about what talents lie within you that you’ve yet to discover? We are deeply complex people. God created us to go deep with Him so that He may reveal to us through this journey who we are. We are only so far along, there are many steps ahead and a great deal more to learn. Just imagine for a moment the depths of God’s love for you. It is in the love that He gifted you and He is excited to see what you’ll do with it all. I encourage you to talk to God today about your talents and how they are meant to be utilized.